QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
- Overall, we rate MercoPress Questionable based on a lack of transparency and poor sourcing techniques that borders on plagiarism.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Lack of Transparency, Poor Sourcing
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: Uruguay
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: News Agency
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
Established in 1993, MercoPress is a news agency based in Montevideo, Uruguay. MercoPress’s main focus is delivering news from Mercosur member countries. Mercosur is a trade and political bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The website has content sections that cover “agriculture, economy, energy and oil, entertainment, environment, fisheries, health and science, investments, politics, real estate, and tourism.”
The website lacks transparency as they do not name authors, editors, or ownership.
Read our profile on Uruguay’s media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
MercoPress provides an about page; however, they do not explain who owns them. Advertising generates revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, MercoPress republishes summarized news from other sources such as this Japan plans to catch some 383 large whales this season. This story originates from Japan Today, without proper citations indicating it is not original. Articles and headlines sometimes contain emotionally loaded language such as this “Trump issues new pardons for crooks and including the father of his son in law Jared Kushner.” The wording of this story is very similar to an article written by Barron’s Magazine 3 days earlier.
Although the tagline reads “South Atlantic News Agency,” most reporting is on the European Union and UK news, such as this Johnson will travel to India next month, first trip since departure from the EU. They also frequently report on the Falkland Islands, which consists of mainly English-speaking Brits such as this Boris Johnson assures he will raise the Falklands’ issue at the EU. When it comes to the sourcing of information, they don’t. While they are not directly plagiarizing other sources such as Reuters, the wording is very similar and used without credit. You can compare stories, MercoPress UK variant of coronavirus is up to 70% more transmissible, but no sufficient evidence that it is more lethal, while Reuters reports, FACTBOX-UK says new coronavirus variant up to 70% more transmissible. The wording is almost identical to Reuters originally reporting the story a day earlier.
Editorially, MercoPress does not produce op-eds; they don’t produce any original reporting. When covering politics, they cover primarily British politics that hold negative views toward Brexit, such as this Scotland claims the post-Brexit trade accord was “a bad deal for fishing.” In general, the news is reported factually and from reliable sources; however, MercoPress does not credit these sources and provides little transparency about who they are; therefore, the information provided may be questionable without investigating the original source.
Failed Fact Checks
- None in the Last 5 years
Overall, we rate MercoPress Questionable based on a lack of transparency and poor sourcing techniques that borders on plagiarism. (12/12/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 05/03/2022)
Source: https://en.mercopress.com/
Last Updated on June 5, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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